Bengals waive DL Takkarist McKinley following failed physical

[lkelly]

He also started against top teams in the Seahawks and Rams and played well. Those teams were right at their season averages in rushing. The Cleveland game was a lot more about the scheme and guys like Poe.

If he is "terrible", why is Machota projecting him to start next year? No practice squad players available?

Hill's 1 tackle against the Seahawks was late in the 4th quarter on a drive where they passed on every down except for 2 runs. The drive ended with a go ahead TD with under 2 minutes left. Perhaps he needed the first 57 minutes to get in his groove. Of course he also had a roughing the passer penalty on the 2 point conversion that came at the conclusion of that drive. It allowed Seattle another try, which was successful.

Against the Rams he combined with Aldon Smith and Joe Thomas on tackles of runs of 1 yard, 4 yards, 1 yard, and 4 yards. Not sure if Smith and Thomas would have made the tackles by themselves or not without Hill's help.

His snap percentage went up dramatically against Cleveland and we know what happened in that game. I believe his first tackle came in the third quarter when Dallas was already trailing by 17 and Cleveland scored on the very next play to completely blow the game open. His other 2 tackles came on running plays later in the third when Cleveland had a FG drive.

Basically his season highlight reel could be shown during the time it takes to measure for a first down.

I didn't know who "Machota" was, but I suspect you mean the former DMN guy who works for The Athletic now. Scanning his Twitter feed, I think he also had such insightful nuggets as "Could the Dallas offense improve with Andy Dalton?" Maybe his reasoning for projecting Hill as a starter next year has to do with there being essentially nothing on the roster at that position under contract for next season. Maybe he has a prop bet in Vegas on the number of career snaps for Hill? Maybe he thinks Jerry will sign the long deceased Reggie White or Jerome Brown as value starters during free agency? He'd have to answer that question himself. I hope it's not the result of extensive scouting of Hill.

 

[Redball Express]

So what did he fail?

They asked him what year it was and he said..

"Election Year".

Duh..

He could pass our physical I am positive.

McCoy did as did Poe as did Dix.

Easy peasy.

Sign him.

If we sign David Irving back from LV next year..

I can see it now..

The defense huddles and out of the middle rolls a huge cloud of smoke..

Irving is passing around a bong..

Takarist is adding more beatle dung to his dreadlocks and Tank is counting on one hand his sack total.

Handsome group there. Very dedicated.

And Aldon Smith keeps murmering..

"No Jerrah...you said 3 yrs for $10 mil/yr..not 10 years for $3 mil. Something wrong here Jerrah..something wrong my brother.."

 

[Manster_Mash]

Hill's 1 tackle against the Seahawks was late in the 4th quarter on a drive where they passed on every down except for 2 runs. The drive ended with a go ahead TD with under 2 minutes left. Perhaps he needed the first 57 minutes to get in his groove. Of course he also had a roughing the passer penalty on the 2 point conversion that came at the conclusion of that drive. It allowed Seattle another try, which was successful.

Against the Rams he combined with Aldon Smith and Joe Thomas on tackles of runs of 1 yard, 4 yards, 1 yard, and 4 yards. Not sure if Smith and Thomas would have made the tackles by themselves or not without Hill's help.

His snap percentage went up dramatically against Cleveland and we know what happened in that game. I believe his first tackle came in the third quarter when Dallas was already trailing by 17 and Cleveland scored on the very next play to completely blow the game open. His other 2 tackles came on running plays later in the third when Cleveland had a FG drive.

Basically his season highlight reel could be shown during the time it takes to measure for a first down.

I didn't know who "Machota" was, but I suspect you mean the former DMN guy who works for The Athletic now. Scanning his Twitter feed, I think he also had such insightful nuggets as "Could the Dallas offense improve with Andy Dalton?" Maybe his reasoning for projecting Hill as a starter next year has to do with there being essentially nothing on the roster at that position under contract for next season. Maybe he has a prop bet in Vegas on the number of career snaps for Hill? Maybe he thinks Jerry will sign the long deceased Reggie White or Jerome Brown as value starters during free agency? He'd have to answer that question himself. I hope it's not the result of extensive scouting of Hill.

Great post. Hill is pure garbage.

 

[Kaiser]

Basically his season highlight reel could be shown during the time it takes to measure for a first down.

You are trying to shoehorn numbers into a narrative, tackles are not the measure of a DT. Fletcher Cox is one of the best DTs in the NFL and last year he had 40 tackles in 16 starts. So by the CBZ metric of "he sucks", Fletcher Cox's highlight reel could play during an injury timeout.

Machota is a beat writer and this website claims Hill sucks like Donatari Poe or Daniel Ross. Those two are out of the NFL. If Hill was that bad the beat writers wouldn't be penciling him into a roster spot - much less a starting position.

 

[lkelly]

You are trying to shoehorn numbers into a narrative, tackles are not the measure of a DT. Fletcher Cox is one of the best DTs in the NFL and last year he had 40 tackles in 16 starts. So by the CBZ metric of "he sucks", Fletcher Cox's highlight reel could play during an injury timeout.

Machota is a beat writer and this website claims Hill sucks like Donatari Poe or Daniel Ross. Those two are out of the NFL. If Hill was that bad the beat writers wouldn't be penciling him into a roster spot - much less a starting position.

Maybe Machota thinks that Hill is on par with Fletcher Cox. That might explain why he's a beat writer, typically relegated to writing stories that regurgitate Jerry's gibberish or doctoring up cliche quotes from <insert team leader here> to sound like something worth reading. One hopes that the team scouts and coaches are more adept at projecting down the road starters than he is.

Then again, this staff also felt that Hill was worth starting, so I guess that pokes a hole in my theory. Let's put it this way - I'm pretty sure that most of the other organizations around the league (read that as ones that aren't currently battling the Cowboys for the top spot in the draft) would know that Hill is a gaping liability on a starting lineup. This is the player who didn't start his final year of college, correct?

What IS the metric that paints Hill as a competent starter? His draft position? Struggling to think of another outside of the Machota Metric.

 

[buybuydandavis]

I took the same approach with Gallimore to Hill. Just because we drafted Hill high as the 2nd round, that it should not deter us from drafting another DT high.
But I'm taking the same approach as we should not be drafting a DT.. just for the sake of drafting one.

Frankly speaking it would just have to be a upper echlon blue chipper DT (ala Aaron Donald or JJ Watt)
You select a DT in according to high he grades on your draft board. Such as he grades out so well and comes with such value that you can't pass him up per value
for the sake of just filling other needs.

Otherwise I'm determined to see what we have in young Gallimore and Hill who not only flashed such promise and potential this year but consider high investments
before adding a just for sake of DT.

We do just need another DT, whether starter or depth. We don't *have* to get desperate and take one early, but it should be a priority position.

Hill's "flashing" is largely relative to people expecting him to be cut outright this year. He's more like an UDFA rookie flash, cut short by injury. And next year is already his 3rd. Unless we like him and extend him cheap like Church, we get maybe one "developed" year out of him before he leaves for free agency.

*Maybe* Gallimore continues and looks like a solid starter by the end of the year. Can always upgrade on Woods. Maybe even that Ankou guy does it.

Got more games to play to see what we've got, but not with Hill, and he's just not good enough to stand pat on for a starter.

Trenches should always be a priority. But next year, I don't see it for the oline. We've got starters signed *and* good, young, cheap depth. Unless someone falls like crazy, the picks should go to the dline.

 

[exciter]

Fact is Watt’s tweener size scared some teams off. There have been multiple guys who weren’t able to carve out a role with a similar physical profile. That being said I hope they learned their lesson about size vs talent.

Think it had to do more with multiple knee surgeries! Plenty of teams have gone with undersized players. Watt had a couple of acl injuries and many scouts felt he was maxed out on his frame!

 

[SlammedZero]

FWIW, Bob Sturm said the Cowboys were never comfortable with the medical reports on Watt's knee. That might be retroactive butt-covering but apparently it was a factor.

But they were cool with Jaylon Smith's injury.

(this isn't a dig at your post Kaiser, just the FO)

 

[Kaiser]

This is the player who didn't start his final year of college, correct?

LOL. In other words, you don't even know basic facts, much less watch the tape of games, much less have a single clue why Jim Tomsula was playing Hill. Tomsula has been paid millions of dollars to do this over the last 12 years and you don't even watch the All 22.

 

[Kaiser]

But they were cool with Jaylon Smith's injury.

(this isn't a dig at your post Kaiser, just the FO)

Sure, they wiffed on Watt. But Jaylon was one of those risk/reward gambles Jerry loves so much. Jaylon would have been a top five pick if not for the injury and Dallas had better insight into the medical reports because their team doctor did his surgery. Plenty of criticisms of Dallas picks, but medically that one worked out.

 

[SlammedZero]

Sure, they wiffed on Watt. But Jaylon was one of those risk/reward gambles Jerry loves so much. Jaylon would have been a top five pick if not for the injury and Dallas had better insight into the medical reports because their team doctor did his surgery. Plenty of criticisms of Dallas picks, but medically that one worked out.

Yeah, I was actually OK with the pick at the time. I just like to poke at the FO from time to time.

 

[Kaiser]

Yeah, I was actually OK with the pick at the time. I just like to poke at the FO from time to time.

I eyerolled that pick because my first reaction was they could have had him in the third and I wanted Noah Spence. But Spence tanked and there were reports that NE was going to move up to get Jaylon in the second so I was wrong on both counts.

 

[AshyLarry06]

But Hill and Gallimore next year will be improved over what they showed this year, especially Gallimore. Dallas had a second round grade on both and they will have more development, more experience and a lot more time in the defensive scheme.

Look at the dramatic jump Hill made from last year to this year and then add that to both players again. And there is no question both guys have the physical skills to be above average starters.

I think what SeanLee50 means though is that with that lineup, we will be going into the season with a lot of assumptions and hope that Gallimore and Hill will take another jump in their development. AND if they don't take that jump, then our DTackles will be the worst in the NFL once again. I def can understand that fear and sentiment but i'm also with you in that I think both guys will develop more and become good to very good DT's.

 

[speedkilz88]

Think it had to do more with multiple knee surgeries! Plenty of teams have gone with undersized players. Watt had a couple of acl injuries and many scouts felt he was maxed out on his frame!

TJ didn't have acl injuries. He had issues with another ligament in the knee cap - medial patellofemoral ligament

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

But they were cool with Jaylon Smith's injury.

(this isn't a dig at your post Kaiser, just the FO)

Yeah but there was a big difference drafting in the 1st and the 2nd. They screwed up but I will not knock them if they truly had injury concerns.

 

[dwmyers]

Seems like we dodged a bullet here

Known issues with Takk and his pass rush. He was self injuring. The bull rush and the constant use of that rush were causing shoulder problems,
Chuck Smith, the old Falcons DL was telling everyone who would listen that on ATL talk radio.

D-

 

[jnday]

Good thing we took Taco and didn't trade up to this guy.

It would have been total failure either way. It was a terrible draft for DL.

 

[jazzcat22]

And all of the couch / basement GM's wanted to sign him, thinking they knew better than Jerry and the FO, yet again.

 

[lkelly]

LOL. In other words, you don't even know basic facts, much less watch the tape of games, much less have a single clue why Jim Tomsula was playing Hill. Tomsula has been paid millions of dollars to do this over the last 12 years and you don't even watch the All 22.

So Tomsula is standing on the table and screaming that Hill should be the starter in 2021 and beyond?

If so, maybe that explains his head coaching success.

Maybe a better explanation is that he's playing Hill because there's literally nothing left in the lineup. It's the same logic as starting DiNucci. Dallas brought in 2 older guys to start via free agency and neither panned out. They drafted a guy and now he looks like he's the best of a bad situation after getting no offseason work with him. It's great that a Dallas beat writer suddenly has you clamoring for a Hill jersey, but you'd probably be better served to wait until it hits the clearance rack. Next March and April should go a long way towards settling that.

 

[Kaiser]

I think what SeanLee50 means though is that with that lineup, we will be going into the season with a lot of assumptions and hope that Gallimore and Hill will take another jump in their development. AND if they don't take that jump, then our DTackles will be the worst in the NFL once again. I def can understand that fear and sentiment but i'm also with you in that I think both guys will develop more and become good to very good DT's.

Sure, but two points on that - our DTs were awful with Poe on the field and he is out of the league now. Since Poe got cut (and more important LVE returned) the DL hasn't been bad, much less horrible. Philly and Pitt were decent games for the defense.

Second - We aren't dependent on Hill and Gallimore playing every snap, its more like 50% and IMO the likely scenario is both Hill and Gallimore playing the 3T with Woods and a draft pick playing 1T.